1. Technical Field
This invention relates to the field of communications, and more particularly to a method and system for sharing speech resources at a server.
2. Description of the Related Art
Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) and Text to Speech (TTS) capabilities are being deployed in various computing applications. These capabilities are implemented utilizing different technologies that include, but are not limited to, desktop command and control, desktop dictation, command and control in noisy conditions, Telephony command and control, handheld device command and control, and wireless information services. As processing power to handle speech becomes affordable relative to return of investment and as speech technologies continue to grow, the number and variety of speech processing resources will also continue to grow.
Today's communications environment, however, is ill equipped to handle this growth. More specifically, no single existing server handles voice recognition and speech generation functions centrally and remotely for various kinds of media types. Different media types exist for telephony and data networks, each utilizing some form of digitized and encoded voice. Some systems process voice using packet-based standards like Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) standards (e.g., H.323/SIP standards), while others use circuit-based standards. Some systems stream voice in real time, others package voice within files of file segments that do not have real time processing requirements. The different media types are also formatted according to a vast array of largely incompatible media formats, each tailored for a particular presentation device.
Using conventional communications environments, multiple systems having overlapping functionality are needed to handle different media types and speech processing tasks. Since voice processing systems are typically expensive in terms of memory utilization, CPU requirements, and software, the cost of these multiple systems can impede the growth and availability of speech processing resources. What is needed is a method and a system to cost effectively provide speech processing resources for various media types without requiring several expensive and functionally redundant systems.